Riverside County Sheriff Stanley Sniff, citing the Soboba band’s “propensity to violence” and apparent reluctance to allow deputies on tribal land, said Tuesday that the tribe should have its gaming license pulled.

Sniff told the county Board of Supervisors that he sent a letter Monday to the National Indian Gaming Commission, requesting that it suspend the gaming license for the Soboba Band of Luiseno Indians.

“My recommendation was for them to suspend the license unless — and until — the sheriff’s department has free and unrestricted access” to the reservation, Sniff said.

“This reservation has a long history of violence and a propensity to violence far above the others,” the sheriff told the board.

Sniff said deputies were being stopped at a guard shack, delaying performance of routine duties such as serving warrants or patrolling the tribe’s vast tract, which measures about 6,000 acres.

The tribal council released a statement expressing disappointment in the sheriff’s statements and actions.

“After efforts were made by both parties in the mediation agreement through the Justice Department, we emphasized ‘communication,’” the statement says.

“If there was a concern or any issue, he should have notified us. At no time has the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department been denied access either to the casino or on the reservation.”

Tension between tribal members and law enforcement has been building in the wake of three recent shooting deaths of Soboba Indians by sheriff’s deputies on tribal land.

The tribe’s statement refers to a series of meetings, mediated by officials with the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the U.S. Department of Justice, that resulted less than a month ago in an agreement to work together.

The agreement included provisions for deputies to receive cultural sensitivity training and for the sheriff to appoint a lieutenant as a liaison to the tribe, as well as for tribal members to put addresses on their homes to make it easier for deputies to locate people.

Since the agreement was signed July 2, Sniff said the most serious problem had been guards slowing down sheriff’s deputies trying to serve a warrant.

Sniff warned that anyone obstructing deputies “can be arrested for that, booked and charged.”

A forum is scheduled for Aug. 11, during which a discussion is to take place about the issues surrounding Public Law 280, which turned over law enforcement duties to local governments in 1953.

Sniff said last week that he understood the law to give sheriff’s deputies unrestricted access to the reservation. Permission from the tribe is not necessary to enter at any time, he said.

He indicated there was nothing to discuss about the law, but the tribal council disagrees.

“The tribe will be hosting an open forum on PL 280 with expert Carole Goldberg to clarify the county’s authority on Indian lands,” the statement reads. “If Sniff refuses to attend the informative meeting, then that is his decision.”

Sniff said deputies were being stopped at a guard shack, obstructing them from getting onto the reservation to serve warrants or conduct routine patrols.

There has been tension over the last few months between tribal members and law enforcement -- in the wake of the shooting deaths of three Soboba Indians on the reservation by sheriff's deputies.

A series of meetings between the two parties, mediated by Bureau of Indian Affairs officials, resulted in an agreement to work together to solve any problems.

The document included an agreement to provide cultural sensitivity training to deputies and to appoint a sheriff's lieutenant as a liaison between the tribe and law enforcement.

A forum is scheduled for Aug. 11, during which a discussion was to take place about the issues surrounding Public Law 280, which in 1953 turned over law enforcement duties to local governments.